I hope the "insightful" mod is in regard to the lack of proof, and not the ridiculous car analogy. The biology and functionality of the human brain is several orders of magnitude more complex than the mechanics of an automobile, to say nothing of the fact that fuel efficiency is completely off-topic, even as an analogy. That's comparing apples and solid rocket boosters.
Honest question: what activities are recommended for improving focus? I've identified a general decline since high school in my ability to focus on things that aren't highly stimulating. I did some brief searching a while back, and most of the advice just boiled down to, "make a conscious effort to not let distractions (internal or external) break your focus, and over time, your ability to focus will improve." I've wondered if there are specific activities (marathon video game sessions?) that can more easily hone one's ability to focus. An analogy would be (for me) riding a bicycle to get exercise. I just generally enjoy heading out on a bike and exploring, so as a side effect, my physical fitness improves. Can I find a similar solution for improving focus?
I guess the whole "rootkit" aspect isn't really necessary for the scenarios I described, though. Since one can write their own apps on Android, you could just write your "Pen Testing Suite" and toss it on the phone, without mucking about trying to hide it as a rootkit.
IMHO, the news here isn't the threat of a malicious rootkit, but the functionality that can be used for other purposes. In a penetration testing scenario, this would be a sweet little tool. Hide an Android phone somewhere in the target facility (or vehicle), and then you can silently call it from across the city/country/world and activate wifi/GPS/camera/microphone.
My android phone also uses USB for charging and data transfer, so it wouldn't be hard to hang it off the back of a PC, place it out of sight, and never worry about the battery running down (my phone doesn't show up to the computer's OS until you tell the phone you want to connect).
It seems that there are lots of people in this thread saying that Google can't pull this off, and most of the excuses are centered around a need to develop on, or use tools for, Windows. It's not hard to figure out the solution here-- Linux for the core OS, and any specialized (non-replaceable/windows-only) tools or development that has to run under windows can be done in a sandboxed VM.
Clearly, this shouldn't be considered if it doesn't provide a comprehensive solution to the problem. It's the same reason we shouldn't be expanding solar, wind, and nuclear power generation in unison...we should definitely wait for just one technology that will serve all our needs, and not attack issues with a multi-pronged approach.
Ditto on not needing OpenSSL installed, but be careful with echo. On the systems I've used, echo by default includes a newline character, which also gets hashed, so you need to not include that if you want a 100% reproduce-able algorithm:
You're confusing "should be" vs. "real-world." Even if the actual POS machines are dumb terminals, they'd connect back to the server, which is probably Windows. Marketing Department and/or Customer demand says that more POS systems will be sold if Corporate can push out pricing updates to the servers and check inventory levels across the Internet, instead of having leased lines all over the place. And since there's Internet connectivity, you need Antivirus.
The fact that POS machines aren't quarantined the way they should be isn't the worst of it. I walked up to my bank branch once, and the ATM was showing a WinXP BSOD.
Well, you've eliminated every "user-error" vector I can think of, except one. What were your password reset settings on the account? I'm guessing that with the rest of your measures, you didn't have an easily-guessable answer, but I'm curious.
I'm inclined to doubt that the students are the ones printing most of their emails. In my experience, it's usually the older generation(s) that seem to want to print everything, so it's probably faculty/professors printing out every damn thing. I have two theories on this:
1) Younger people are still more used to digesting content directly from an electronic screen, so they don't feel a need to convert it to dead-tree form for a more "natural" medium.
2) Younger people are probably more likely to trust that the email will still be there*, and they are able to use search tools to find it, whereas older generations may feel (even subconsciously) that if they don't print it out and put it in their hard-copy filing system, they may not have access to it again. I think the only reason my mother has cut down on her printing of every "interesting" email is that she has spammed herself into oblivion with mailing lists & such, to the point that printing everything would be cost prohibitive.
*Assuming there's not a ridiculous "all email will be deleted within 90 days, and no archiving or auto-forwarding allowed" policy, like with my employer.
Who says he is blindly following advice? In my experience, asking a large group of experienced people, many of whom are more likely to be more well-versed than I am on the topic, is an extremely valuable research technique. It doesn't mean I'm going to blindly trust whatever I'm told; it means that I have a wealth of new, highly-relevant information with which to make my decision. In this case, slashdot is google on steroids.
Exactly. I'm not saying Adobe should strip out javascript, just fucking disable it by default. And *if* I need it, *if* I turn it on, at least give me the option to only leave it on for that session. There aren't enough adjectives for my opinion of what Adobe has done to Acrobat Reader.
If I'm misunderstanding your question, I apologize in advance, but I think a solution to your problem with iso's is to work independently of virtualbox if it's not working for you, and use some other tools. I have found that VirtualCloneDrive (http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html) and ISO Recorder (http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm) installed in my windows vm's make working with iso's easier, because I can mount or create iso's independently of whatever hypervisor I'm using, as long as I can get to my iso's share.
Incorrect. How many banks (and other online services) reset their account passwords by sending a link to your primary email account? 0wn the email, 0wn the person (all too often).
And you obviously don't know much about home routers. Many of them come out of the box with the ability to spoof the MAC address that the ISP sees. I believe that was what was being referred to, not spoofing internal MACs.
Just speculation here; perhaps many people have reached the same sad conclusion about US politics that I did, years ago.
For years, I never bothered registering to vote, because I didn't think I could believe *anything* a political candidate said while campaigning. Put another way, it never mattered to me what they *said* their viewpoints were or policies would be, because too many just went and supported whatever special interests gave them the most money.
When people feel that they're no longer voting for what the talking heads are claiming, they start voting based on whatever they can grab on to in order to feel like they have *some* chance of being represented by their government. Sometimes it's religion, sometimes it's the person's home state, and sometimes it's, "Wow, a blue tie!"
I finally did register to vote when I felt the need to vote *against* a presidential candidate. I don't even remember who I voted for, but I most definitely voted against Bush in 2000 and 2004.
And yes, we as Americans should all be bothered to go look up the way candidates voted on every major issue in their career, rather than listening to what they are saying today. The problem is, that doesn't always tell the whole story. "X candidate voted against gun control, then voted for it!" What isn't spelled out is that both of those issues may have been tacked on to something altogether unrelated and more important, like declaring a war. Also, I really think most people don't do this research due to the aforementioned apathy born from a lack of feeling represented. It takes effort to be an informed voter, and people quit exerting effort when they feel that their work didn't really have any effect for them. Definitely not the way it should be, but it seems to be the case.
Moral of the story: You really should have had port 25 outbound locked down to trusted machines only, anyway.
It's a bit more challenging on a home network, because we have a *justified* reason to need a lot of random ports open, but I believe anyone with the tech savvy to do so should be filtering outbound traffic from their home networks, (and most inbound traffic, although that's even more of a pain on recreational connections--Windows Media Player Streaming, anyone?) just like EVERYONE should from business networks.
Especially if you're afraid of, or dealing with, overly-excitable knee-jerk-reaction ISPs, the Slashdot crowd should be blocking outbound mail from any network they have rights to do so on, other than from trusted servers. Had you been doing that in the first place, your brother's spam-bot would have been a non-issue.
(Not trying to attack here, just posting an opinion...)
Good points. I did think about Apple building and marketing a purpose-built device for e-books, as they would still have a head-start on interface and delivery. However, I like the idea of them integrating e-book functionality into a device that people already are buying for other reasons. I think there would be number of people who already own an iPod, and would toss a book on it to read during a flight, but would never pony up the cash to buy a standalone e-reader. By integrating e-reader functionality into existing iPods/iPhones, Apple could potentially build the e-reader market where one would not have grown otherwise.
I also agree that the current iPod interface may not be ideal for an e-reader (although it's probably not far off, if at all). Given their track record with the scroll wheel and the Touch, though, I'd expect them to polish any subtle changes to the existing interface so that the e-reader functionality would be equally ideal. I think the new Touch interface really opens up their options to design application-specific controls on the fly, too.
I would also personally prefer to have one device for mp3/e-book, rather than two. And if an iPod was a practical/functional e-book reader, it would probably be the final incentive for me to actually buy into the Apple kool-aid, instead of buying one of the many mp3-player alternatives that suit my needs just fine, for less cost (I currently own a Creative Muvo. No, the interface doesn't begin to comapre to an iPod, but it plays my custom folders just fine when I'm working out).
One more note: For any e-book reader I own, I want the ability to scan books (that I have legally purchased and own) into PDFs and put them on the device for my use, the same as I do with my cd collection porting to mp3 players.
...until one vendor (also with heavy and draconian DRM) significantly corners the market through a beautifully easy to use device, tied in store and large volume of works.
Hmmm....who does this sound like? Apple, pay attention here. You're in a postition to totally take over this market, the way the ipod destroyed competition in the mobile mp3 player market. You already have the device (iPod/iPhone) that has a proven interface, reliability, and the hip/cool/somehow-still-elitist-even-though-everybody-has-one factor. You already built the store and delivery mechanism (iTunes) that everyone can use.
Apple, do you want to own a developing new market in a month, when others are still fussing with devices and delivery mechanisms that are practically beta?
1. Partner with Google, Project Gutenberg, that University whose-name-escapes-me (and I'm too lazy to look it up), and any others who are already digitizing books, most of which need no DRM, that you can toss in to iTunes (for free if you want, just to get the populace on board).
2. Crank out an e-book reader for your i-Devices that will support your DRM scheme for copyrighted materials. Also make sure your devices can read PDFs natively. If you're going to do this, do it right.
3. There are no question marks here, this is straightforward and simple.
4. Profit!!!
P.S.
For those of you going on about the sensuality of book bindings, the smell of paper, etc., I don't give a crap. For me, a book is either recreation, through which I escape to another time/place/universe, or a learning tool/reference guide. In either case, the delivery mechanism should be so unobtrusive as to be nearly invisible.
As a certified security professional (or just a decent human being), I feel a responsibility to tell the general public about things like this. It's great that the/. crowd knows about it, but many of us are skeptical enough of emails to not fall for this, anyway (although on a bad/busy/tired day, I might have).
I sent this email out to my co-workers and a large list of friends and family. I've sent similar warnings in the past, and people are generally appreciative, becuase they have NO CLUE things like this are going on (hence, the insanely profitable phishing business).
Feel free to use my email, contents below, and send to anyone/everyone you know who could use a heads-up.
[Disclaimer for the/. folks]
1. I know there is more that people can do to keep their computers secure, but I don't have time to write a whole book, and people won't read it, anyway.
2. I know not everyone runs Windows and MS office. Facts are, most people do, and most of them don't keep them updated. The 'nix crowd is probably more informed on this stuff anyway; this email isn't for them.
3. I know some people out there aren't capable of doing anything preceded by the word "Configure" on a computer. The best we can do is let them know that something *should* be done, and hope they call someone who can help them out.
4. If someone asks you about the logic of clicking a link in an email that advises them not to click links in emails, give them a gold star and a pat on the back, because they are paying attention and are more savvy than a large portion of the population.
[/disclaimer]
The people who are out to get your personal and financial information are getting more clever. They have come up with a new attack where they send you an email that instructs you to call "your bank" and enter your account number and PIN number. The catch is that the number they give you is fake, and they just collect your information through the phone. This attack was well thought out, and people are especially likely to fall for this, because they are used to entering this information when they call their banks or credit card companies.
From the article: "The spammed message warns of a problem with a bank account and instructs the recipient to dial a phone number to resolve it. The caller is connected to a voice response system that is made to sound exactly like the bank's own system. The phone system identifies itself to the target as the financial institution and prompts them to enter account number and PIN."
Since they're getting your information over the phone, there isn't much that computer or e-mail security can do to prevent this attack.
Some rules to remember:
1. Be VERY suspicious of any email that has communication regarding financial information or your bank.
2. NEVER click any links or open attachments in emails unless you are sure it came from a trusted source.
3. If you are going to call a number and give out sensitive information (such as account numbers, PIN, date of birth, etc.), verify that the number you are calling is correct, by checking an old bank statement or phone book, or even your bank/credit card company's website.
Also, you can help protect yourself from other types of phishing attacks by doing the following:
1. Make sure Windows is up to date by visiting http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ or configuring "Automatic Updates" in your Windows Contol Panel
2. Make sure you have Antivirus software installed and make sure you keep it current (most antivirus software can be configured for automatic updates pretty easily).
3. If you have Microsoft Office, make sure it is up to date by visiting http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate
You can read more about this attack at the following link:
As someone else pointed out, there seems to be a disparity in the quality of different MicroCenters. I have to say our Kanas City MicroCenter is my first choice for any computing-related purchase. Nearly always cheaper prices than the big chains (CompUsa, BestBuy, etc.), and sales geeks that usually really know their stuff. Had one return recently where I wasn't sure if they'd do it at the store, and they didn't even bother to look in the box when I told them I wanted to exchange it. Good service, and a great selection. I know I sound like a commercial or someone with a vested interest in the company, but I like to give people plugs when they do things right.
Just thought I'd post, since this seems to have turned into a discussion about MicroCenter, rather than Linux. =)
If you want something name-brand (comments about Dell PC's reserved), keep an eye on www.gotapex.com. T'other day, they had Dimension 2400's with reasonable specs (way better than a 486) for $200 if you bought more than one. That special appears to be gone now, but I'm sure it (or similar ones) will be back in the future.
Slashdot Mirror
I hope the "insightful" mod is in regard to the lack of proof, and not the ridiculous car analogy. The biology and functionality of the human brain is several orders of magnitude more complex than the mechanics of an automobile, to say nothing of the fact that fuel efficiency is completely off-topic, even as an analogy. That's comparing apples and solid rocket boosters.
Honest question: what activities are recommended for improving focus? I've identified a general decline since high school in my ability to focus on things that aren't highly stimulating. I did some brief searching a while back, and most of the advice just boiled down to, "make a conscious effort to not let distractions (internal or external) break your focus, and over time, your ability to focus will improve." I've wondered if there are specific activities (marathon video game sessions?) that can more easily hone one's ability to focus. An analogy would be (for me) riding a bicycle to get exercise. I just generally enjoy heading out on a bike and exploring, so as a side effect, my physical fitness improves. Can I find a similar solution for improving focus?
I guess the whole "rootkit" aspect isn't really necessary for the scenarios I described, though. Since one can write their own apps on Android, you could just write your "Pen Testing Suite" and toss it on the phone, without mucking about trying to hide it as a rootkit.
My android phone also uses USB for charging and data transfer, so it wouldn't be hard to hang it off the back of a PC, place it out of sight, and never worry about the battery running down (my phone doesn't show up to the computer's OS until you tell the phone you want to connect).
It seems that there are lots of people in this thread saying that Google can't pull this off, and most of the excuses are centered around a need to develop on, or use tools for, Windows. It's not hard to figure out the solution here-- Linux for the core OS, and any specialized (non-replaceable/windows-only) tools or development that has to run under windows can be done in a sandboxed VM.
Clearly, this shouldn't be considered if it doesn't provide a comprehensive solution to the problem. It's the same reason we shouldn't be expanding solar, wind, and nuclear power generation in unison...we should definitely wait for just one technology that will serve all our needs, and not attack issues with a multi-pronged approach.
echo -n salt.site.password |md5sum
echo -n salt.site.password |sha1sum
Also, I find the Hashr extension for firefox handy.
You're confusing "should be" vs. "real-world." Even if the actual POS machines are dumb terminals, they'd connect back to the server, which is probably Windows. Marketing Department and/or Customer demand says that more POS systems will be sold if Corporate can push out pricing updates to the servers and check inventory levels across the Internet, instead of having leased lines all over the place. And since there's Internet connectivity, you need Antivirus. The fact that POS machines aren't quarantined the way they should be isn't the worst of it. I walked up to my bank branch once, and the ATM was showing a WinXP BSOD.
Well, you've eliminated every "user-error" vector I can think of, except one. What were your password reset settings on the account? I'm guessing that with the rest of your measures, you didn't have an easily-guessable answer, but I'm curious.
1) Younger people are still more used to digesting content directly from an electronic screen, so they don't feel a need to convert it to dead-tree form for a more "natural" medium.
2) Younger people are probably more likely to trust that the email will still be there*, and they are able to use search tools to find it, whereas older generations may feel (even subconsciously) that if they don't print it out and put it in their hard-copy filing system, they may not have access to it again. I think the only reason my mother has cut down on her printing of every "interesting" email is that she has spammed herself into oblivion with mailing lists & such, to the point that printing everything would be cost prohibitive.
*Assuming there's not a ridiculous "all email will be deleted within 90 days, and no archiving or auto-forwarding allowed" policy, like with my employer.
It does break the brakes, but not fully. The goal of switching off is that you will (hopefully) also brake the breaks.
Don't worry. You've just demonstrated that you're a person I wouldn't want to work for, anyway.
Who says he is blindly following advice? In my experience, asking a large group of experienced people, many of whom are more likely to be more well-versed than I am on the topic, is an extremely valuable research technique. It doesn't mean I'm going to blindly trust whatever I'm told; it means that I have a wealth of new, highly-relevant information with which to make my decision. In this case, slashdot is google on steroids.
Exactly. I'm not saying Adobe should strip out javascript, just fucking disable it by default. And *if* I need it, *if* I turn it on, at least give me the option to only leave it on for that session. There aren't enough adjectives for my opinion of what Adobe has done to Acrobat Reader.
If I'm misunderstanding your question, I apologize in advance, but I think a solution to your problem with iso's is to work independently of virtualbox if it's not working for you, and use some other tools. I have found that VirtualCloneDrive (http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html) and ISO Recorder (http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm) installed in my windows vm's make working with iso's easier, because I can mount or create iso's independently of whatever hypervisor I'm using, as long as I can get to my iso's share.
Incorrect. How many banks (and other online services) reset their account passwords by sending a link to your primary email account? 0wn the email, 0wn the person (all too often).
And you obviously don't know much about home routers. Many of them come out of the box with the ability to spoof the MAC address that the ISP sees. I believe that was what was being referred to, not spoofing internal MACs.
For years, I never bothered registering to vote, because I didn't think I could believe *anything* a political candidate said while campaigning. Put another way, it never mattered to me what they *said* their viewpoints were or policies would be, because too many just went and supported whatever special interests gave them the most money.
When people feel that they're no longer voting for what the talking heads are claiming, they start voting based on whatever they can grab on to in order to feel like they have *some* chance of being represented by their government. Sometimes it's religion, sometimes it's the person's home state, and sometimes it's, "Wow, a blue tie!"
I finally did register to vote when I felt the need to vote *against* a presidential candidate. I don't even remember who I voted for, but I most definitely voted against Bush in 2000 and 2004.
And yes, we as Americans should all be bothered to go look up the way candidates voted on every major issue in their career, rather than listening to what they are saying today. The problem is, that doesn't always tell the whole story. "X candidate voted against gun control, then voted for it!" What isn't spelled out is that both of those issues may have been tacked on to something altogether unrelated and more important, like declaring a war. Also, I really think most people don't do this research due to the aforementioned apathy born from a lack of feeling represented. It takes effort to be an informed voter, and people quit exerting effort when they feel that their work didn't really have any effect for them. Definitely not the way it should be, but it seems to be the case.
It's a bit more challenging on a home network, because we have a *justified* reason to need a lot of random ports open, but I believe anyone with the tech savvy to do so should be filtering outbound traffic from their home networks, (and most inbound traffic, although that's even more of a pain on recreational connections--Windows Media Player Streaming, anyone?) just like EVERYONE should from business networks.
Especially if you're afraid of, or dealing with, overly-excitable knee-jerk-reaction ISPs, the Slashdot crowd should be blocking outbound mail from any network they have rights to do so on, other than from trusted servers. Had you been doing that in the first place, your brother's spam-bot would have been a non-issue.
(Not trying to attack here, just posting an opinion...)
I also agree that the current iPod interface may not be ideal for an e-reader (although it's probably not far off, if at all). Given their track record with the scroll wheel and the Touch, though, I'd expect them to polish any subtle changes to the existing interface so that the e-reader functionality would be equally ideal. I think the new Touch interface really opens up their options to design application-specific controls on the fly, too.
I would also personally prefer to have one device for mp3/e-book, rather than two. And if an iPod was a practical/functional e-book reader, it would probably be the final incentive for me to actually buy into the Apple kool-aid, instead of buying one of the many mp3-player alternatives that suit my needs just fine, for less cost (I currently own a Creative Muvo. No, the interface doesn't begin to comapre to an iPod, but it plays my custom folders just fine when I'm working out).
One more note: For any e-book reader I own, I want the ability to scan books (that I have legally purchased and own) into PDFs and put them on the device for my use, the same as I do with my cd collection porting to mp3 players.
...until one vendor (also with heavy and draconian DRM) significantly corners the market through a beautifully easy to use device, tied in store and large volume of works.Hmmm....who does this sound like? Apple, pay attention here. You're in a postition to totally take over this market, the way the ipod destroyed competition in the mobile mp3 player market. You already have the device (iPod/iPhone) that has a proven interface, reliability, and the hip/cool/somehow-still-elitist-even-though-everybody-has-one factor. You already built the store and delivery mechanism (iTunes) that everyone can use.
Apple, do you want to own a developing new market in a month, when others are still fussing with devices and delivery mechanisms that are practically beta?
1. Partner with Google, Project Gutenberg, that University whose-name-escapes-me (and I'm too lazy to look it up), and any others who are already digitizing books, most of which need no DRM, that you can toss in to iTunes (for free if you want, just to get the populace on board).
2. Crank out an e-book reader for your i-Devices that will support your DRM scheme for copyrighted materials. Also make sure your devices can read PDFs natively. If you're going to do this, do it right.
3. There are no question marks here, this is straightforward and simple.
4. Profit!!!
P.S.
For those of you going on about the sensuality of book bindings, the smell of paper, etc., I don't give a crap. For me, a book is either recreation, through which I escape to another time/place/universe, or a learning tool/reference guide. In either case, the delivery mechanism should be so unobtrusive as to be nearly invisible.
I sent this email out to my co-workers and a large list of friends and family. I've sent similar warnings in the past, and people are generally appreciative, becuase they have NO CLUE things like this are going on (hence, the insanely profitable phishing business).
Feel free to use my email, contents below, and send to anyone/everyone you know who could use a heads-up.
[Disclaimer for the /. folks]
1. I know there is more that people can do to keep their computers secure, but I don't have time to write a whole book, and people won't read it, anyway.
2. I know not everyone runs Windows and MS office. Facts are, most people do, and most of them don't keep them updated. The 'nix crowd is probably more informed on this stuff anyway; this email isn't for them.
3. I know some people out there aren't capable of doing anything preceded by the word "Configure" on a computer. The best we can do is let them know that something *should* be done, and hope they call someone who can help them out.
4. If someone asks you about the logic of clicking a link in an email that advises them not to click links in emails, give them a gold star and a pat on the back, because they are paying attention and are more savvy than a large portion of the population.
[/disclaimer]
The people who are out to get your personal and financial information are getting more clever. They have come up with a new attack where they send you an email that instructs you to call "your bank" and enter your account number and PIN number. The catch is that the number they give you is fake, and they just collect your information through the phone. This attack was well thought out, and people are especially likely to fall for this, because they are used to entering this information when they call their banks or credit card companies.
From the article: "The spammed message warns of a problem with a bank account and instructs the recipient to dial a phone number to resolve it. The caller is connected to a voice response system that is made to sound exactly like the bank's own system. The phone system identifies itself to the target as the financial institution and prompts them to enter account number and PIN."
Since they're getting your information over the phone, there isn't much that computer or e-mail security can do to prevent this attack.
Some rules to remember:
1. Be VERY suspicious of any email that has communication regarding financial information or your bank.
2. NEVER click any links or open attachments in emails unless you are sure it came from a trusted source.
3. If you are going to call a number and give out sensitive information (such as account numbers, PIN, date of birth, etc.), verify that the number you are calling is correct, by checking an old bank statement or phone book, or even your bank/credit card company's website.
Also, you can help protect yourself from other types of phishing attacks by doing the following:
1. Make sure Windows is up to date by visiting http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ or configuring "Automatic Updates" in your Windows Contol Panel
2. Make sure you have Antivirus software installed and make sure you keep it current (most antivirus software can be configured for automatic updates pretty easily).
3. If you have Microsoft Office, make sure it is up to date by visiting http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate
You can read more about this attack at the following link:
As someone else pointed out, there seems to be a disparity in the quality of different MicroCenters. I have to say our Kanas City MicroCenter is my first choice for any computing-related purchase. Nearly always cheaper prices than the big chains (CompUsa, BestBuy, etc.), and sales geeks that usually really know their stuff. Had one return recently where I wasn't sure if they'd do it at the store, and they didn't even bother to look in the box when I told them I wanted to exchange it. Good service, and a great selection. I know I sound like a commercial or someone with a vested interest in the company, but I like to give people plugs when they do things right. Just thought I'd post, since this seems to have turned into a discussion about MicroCenter, rather than Linux. =)
If you want something name-brand (comments about Dell PC's reserved), keep an eye on www.gotapex.com. T'other day, they had Dimension 2400's with reasonable specs (way better than a 486) for $200 if you bought more than one. That special appears to be gone now, but I'm sure it (or similar ones) will be back in the future.
If that gets slashdotted, just UTFSE--bluetooth sniper hack gets you tons of relevant info.
Yes, that's pretty visible on a bus, but what if I stand by the window of my 11-floor office and snipe the mindless drones walking the streets?